{2nd Trimester}

Well I am finally in the third and final stretch of this pregnancy. At least I think so. Ive read that the 3rd trimester starts the 26th, the 27th, and the 28th week so I'm not sure which is actually correct but I am now 27 (almost 28) weeks. And yet... April still feels like a life time away.

Here are some pictures to show what life was like during my 2nd trimester:

Remember when I looked at these 18 week pictures and was disgusted at how big I looked? 

That was funny.

Fall was pretty perfect and I felt great the whole time... minus the 24 hours I spent with the stomach flu. 

We drove up the canyon, saw the leaves change, listened to music, went shopping in Park City, went to St. George and basically just enjoyed each other and the lovely weather.

At one of my doctors appointments they informed me that my blood pressure was 127/82. 

127?! What? 

So naturally, I started freaking out thinking I was going to die of a heart attack or blood clot. Because my blood pressure is usually low. Very low. So I was really panicking. Luckily, Nicks brother Ty, who is just as much of a hypochondriac as I am had a blood pressure machine at his parents house. That's when the "Blood Pressure Party" began. We ate chips and dip, snickers, and tested our blood pressure over and over again. No need to worry. My blood pressure was back to 105/80 in no time... which Im sure is no good either but whatever, that's the usual.

I really looked bigger than that at 20 weeks. I was sucking in :)

Nick and I went to New York City when I was about 22 weeks so this picture was taken in Central Park. I'm planning on blogging about it... but I guess we'll see if that actually happens. Just in case I don't... it was the perfect trip and I loved every minute of it. I'm so glad we decided to go on one last big vacation before the baby is born. I'm guessing we wont get the opportunity near as much come springtime. 

Also, this was about the first time I felt the baby move. Best feeling in the world... especially just the reassurance it gives me everyday to know that she is healthy, happy, and growing. For the longest time I was trying to feel the little "flutters" that I had heard and read about but had never really felt. But Im pretty sure I completely missed that phase and went straight to feeling kicks and punches. And boy is our baby strong. I absolutely love feeling her move though... that is until Im trying to go to sleep and she decides its time to wake up and throw a party in my stomach. Lets pray her sleeping schedule changes shall we?

 

We had a lovely Christmas. Spent time with family and friends. Curled up on the couch in front of the christmas tree and fireplace. Did a few holiday crafts. But mostly just dreamed about what Christmas will be like next year with our cute baby girl around. I cant wait.

 Ok so lets talk pregnancy.

I feel really good. Sometimes I even forget I'm pregnant until I try and bend down to take off  my shoes or something and there is my giant stomach stopping me from doing so comfortably. BUT I do have a few complaints. 

First of all, my tailbone KILLS me. Every time I sit down for longer then 20 minutes I can hardly move when I try and stand back up. Feels like my tail bone breaks every time. As I type I am currently sitting on a donut pillow and when it comes time to stand back up I will have to have both hands helping me out of the chair and it will be a very slow process. Hello old lady! Another thing, I have had a bad cold since Thanksgiving. Is this normal? Im so sick of being sick! Don't get me wrong if this is what I get in place of throwing up for nine months Ill take it. But I would really just love one night of feeling like I can actually breathe again. Most of all though, I just feel tired. I could take a two hour nap in the day and then still sleep 9 hours at night. And being tired is just no fun. I hate it. I guess I better get used to it though right? Everyone tells me to just plan on being tired for the rest of my life once the baby is here so I guess my body is just getting prepared a little early. Also, I dream of the day where I sleep on my back and stomach again. Oh the little things that are going to bring me joy when this is all over :)

 

To be completely honest, I don't love being pregnant. I don't understand people that say they have never felt better. I just don't see how that's possible. 

I feel big, tired, and awkward. 

But oh my goodness I am so grateful for this little girl. I daydream about her all day long. I play lullaby's for her in the car. I try and drink lots of orange juice cause I'm pretty sure its her favorite. I rub my stomach to try and comfort her when I think she might be sad or scared. I talk to her when we are alone. I tell her how much her daddy loves her already. And how paranoid he gets about the fruit I eat being washed enough, and the paint fumes in the air, and my caffeine intake. I stare at her ultrasound pictures at least 5 times a day.   

Gosh I already feel so lucky to be her mom and I cannot wait to meet her and hold her in my arms.

{1st Trimester}

Sorry. I don't write. I love my husband's writing much more than my own. So... I take pictures instead. I know I need to be better at documenting my pregnancy. EVERYONE tells me this. So here is my pathetic attempt to recap my first trimester... in pictures.

 

Most of my days during my first trimester were spent just like this... laying anywhere and everywhere. 

 All day long.

Basically just staring at the wall or the out the window concentrating on not throwing up.

 

 Foods I may never be able to eat again:

chicken broccoli soup

Certain kinds of pizza... even thinking about it makes me nauseous.

And potstickers from Costco... YUCK!

Food I never got sick of:

Fruit Loops... seriously this was our dishwasher about every two days.

Sweets. I doubt Ill ever get sick of sweets. I'm doomed.

Hot dogs specifically J-Dawgs

Pickles

Mmm... and coconut cupcakes from Sweet Tooth Fairy or 25 Main

 

Nick & I at his family reunion in Loa. 

Yes, I went camping during my first trimester. And I felt great for the two days we were there. Not sure if it was the fresh air or what but it was nice to feel good for a couple days.

My families Disneyland trip fell right at the end of my first trimester so I was mostly feeling better. We had so much fun... even if Nick had to go on all the rides without me :(

Disneyland video coming soon...

 

 I hate this picture. But its the only side angle one i got in between 6 and 18 weeks... oops.

I realize pregnancy posts are the most boring posts for your average person to read. So just know I am doing this mostly for myself... and maybe my mom :)

Oh boy, It's a GIRL.

When Ashlee and I found out that we would be having a baby, Ash asked if I would write something about that day. I told her that I would, but haven’t been very timely about it. The problem with measuring pregnancy by the week is that it shows just how many weeks I have procrastinated.  Ashlee is fourteen eighteen weeks into pregnancy, which means I’m about two months late writing this post. That means our baby developed hands and feet faster than I produced this post.

When we found out that Ash was pregnant it was completely unexpected. We were just sitting in the office doing our usual routine. This meant Ash was probably yelling at her monitor thanks to the website Pinterest, and I was finding a way to break my computer. While we were sitting there just out of the blue we decided we should take a pregnancy test. We didn’t have a good reason to take a test. We had taken a bunch of tests towards the beginning of the month and they had all come back negative. As a result we just gave up on the possibility of pregnancy for the month, but for whatever reason we felt inclined to take one now. We didn't have any cups, which are necessary for poor man's pregnancy tests, so we had to go the grocery store to pick some up.
After we got back from the store I had forgotten the reason we went in the first place was so we could take the pregnancy test. I came back and went straight into the kitchen while Ashlee went to take the pregnancy test. I was putting the groceries away when Ash walked back into the kitchen and in a nervous whisper announced, “I’m pregnant.”

I couldn’t believe it. I honestly didn't believe it was a possibility so my first response was a skeptical one. I had to ask if she was certain she followed the directions. She was as skeptical as me so we decided to take another test.

Test number two came back with the same red line.

This still wasn’t enough proof for us. We were examining the red line and trying to determine if it was “red enough”. The next step was for me to consult Google. While I was typing “How accurate are home pregnancy tests” into my computer Ashlee was taking test number three. Google was throwing numbers like 99% percent accurate at me and test number three came back with the same positive results.
You would think that three positive results would be enough to convince us that we were indeed having a baby, but it wasn’t. We decided that we weren’t sure how much we trusted the tests we were taking. They were some cheap ones we bought off the internet so we wanted to get something more reliable, so naturally we went to the dollar store to get different pregnancy tests. And yes -- the fact that we were going to the dollar store to get a higher quality anything should be alarming, but that's how we roll.

After the new pregnancy tests we bought came back positive we were finally beginning to realize that we were having a baby. We were so happy and excited we didn't know what to do with ourselves. We ended up just huddled together on the bed holding on to each other, alternating between laughing and crying just from the joy of it. What made the moment even more memorable was while we were lying there Ashlee's iPod which has 15,000+  songs randomly selected the song Shelter by Ray Lamontagne, the song we had our first dance to at our wedding. The song was followed by one of the best love songs there is.. Spirit On The Water by Bob Dylan. It made the moment unforgettable, we just stayed lying there while the music played.
We have had a few doctors appointments since we found out about the pregnancy. Just a couple of weeks ago we had our second ultrasound and found out that we would be having a girl. We absolutely love the ultrasound appointments. It's so fun to see the baby even if they aren't exactly cute quite yet. We have the ultrasound picture's hanging from our fridge and it's amazing how easy it is to get lost in a daydream staring at them. I'll be brushing my teeth and I'll walk into the kitchen and just go through every ultrasound picture and begin imagining what she will be like. It's funny how much you can love someone that isn't even the size of a grapefruit.

"Sun a shout, the breeze a sigh."

Nick and I made it to St George for a quick weekend getaway. No one was in town except for my Dad so I had the chance to show Nick the true St George experience. Well, most of it... We didn't get to hang out at FrostTop or cruise the Vard, but other then that we made it to a lot of of my favorite places. 

 

 We went downtown right when we got there. I didn't think St George could get any more adorable, but the new carousel and the movie on Main Street proved me wrong.  

 (These are my phone pics from the trip) 

Our trip downtown was followed by a Harmon's grocery trip and a barbecue for Nick, Kiki, and I in my Moms backyard. Afterwards, we took Kiki for a walk.. the walk quickly turned into a panicked sprint home when a thunderstorm rolled into town. I'm so happy Nick finally got to experience a St. George thunderstorm. He's heard me talk about them way too much and this one did not disappoint. I couldn't resist but to stop to take a few pictures... if only I had my SLR. I was pretty proud of what I captured with my phone though.

 

The following day we went to my Dad's glass studio to get in touch with our creative side. Unfortunately it was shortly after that we realized our creative side was a little lacking. We both made our own piece of glass and then combined our talents to create our glass replica of St George. It was a blast and we already can't wait to try it out again.

 

We ended our night with a trip to Springdale where we had dinner with my Dad & Terri. We went to the Patten family favorite the Bit & Spur. The weather couldn't have been any better. We were able to sit out on the patio with the rain falling all around us. 

It was beautiful.

After dinner Nick and I went to the O.C. Tanner Amphitheater for some Bluegrass. It was no Randy Anderson concert :) but it was a lot of fun

 

I love this town.

Before &.... White

If you were to ask us what we were doing any Saturday in the past two months we would have given the same reply every time..."Painting".

We have a routine of going to DI and buying a piece of furniture that we might like. We bring it home and stick in our storage room that now looks like something you would see in the home of a crazy person on an episode of Hoarders. It sits in the room until we have the motivation to fix it up and paint it....
usually white.

Here are some of the before and after pictures we have taken.

Bottom handles will be replaced soon.... and possibly some antiquing... I don't know. Thoughts?

PS- How cute is my cactus?

And the best for last... our record player.

Looks and sounds amazing thanks to my wonderful husband :)